News Report: UNHCR - Risk of Terrorism 'Very, Very High' if Rohingya Crisis Persists

Lisa Schlein

GENEVA — The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, warned Wednesday of a high risk of terrorism in Myanmar and the region if the Rohingya crisis remains unresolved.

Grandi recently visited Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, which is home to some 800,000 Rohingya refugees. Among those, 450,000 refugees recently fled violence and persecution in Myanmar, while more than 300,000 others arrived in neighboring Bangladesh before the current crisis.

Most of the refugees are women and children, and many are deeply traumatized. Grandi says he spoke to women who had been raped and children who had seen their families and friends killed.

"The combination of limited health facilities, poor sanitary and hygienic conditions, and overcrowded sites, you can well imagine, is a recipe for disaster in terms of possible epidemics," Grandi said, stressing how little the refugees had and how vulnerable they were to multiple risks.

News Story: Left rejects anew government demand to lay down arms

New People’s Army (NPA)

By Artemio Dumlao

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has again rejected President Duterte’s demand for the New People’s Army (NPA) to surrender for the peace negotiations to continue.

The CPP said Duterte’s demand reveals his “fascist narrow-mindedness.”

“By doing so, (Duterte) treats Red fighters with extreme contempt, choosing to ignore the social realities of oppression and exploitation and the aspiration for national and social liberation which continue to drive thousands, especially peasant masses, to join and support the NPA,” the CPP said.

The CPP, which claims to still have absolute control of the NPA around the country instead warned they will continue to carry out tactical offensives in order to hold the Duterte administration accountable “for all its crimes and rights abuses.”

On Wednesday, the CPP threw out Duterte’s declaration of openness in the resuming peace negotiations after NPA rebels freed a captive policemen, saying it was “pure talk.”

They said the peace negotiations can resume if Duterte drops his earlier precondition of a bilateral ceasefire.

The CPP insisted addressing the roots of the armed conflict in accordance with previously agreed principles and procedures under The Hague Declaration.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Report: Sighting of IS Flag in Pakistan’s Capital Stirs Public Worries

Noor Zahid, Jaleel Akhtar

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD — The sighting of an Islamic State flag spread fears among residents in Pakistan’s capital, prompting authorities to order an investigation of the incident.

“The Caliphate is coming,” read an inserted slogan on an IS flag which was put up over a billboard Sunday on a major expressway in Islamabad.

Pakistan Interior Ministry authorities told VOA a committee has been formed to investigate the incident, denying reports IS may have established a foothold in the country.

“The group does not have an organized presence, resources or structure to be able operate in the area,” Talal Choudhry, State Minister for Interior Affairs told VOA’s Urdu Service.

Pakistani authorities acknowledged at least one IS flag was displayed on a billboard, but some sources told VOA other IS flags were found in other parts of the capital city.

While militant groups have previously targeted Islamabad, the city is regarded as one of the safest places in the country. Under a “Safe City Project” that aims at making the capital crime-free, more than 1,900 surveillance cameras (CCTV) have been installed across the city.

The IS terror group has taken roots in the mountain regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan since early 2015. It brands itself as the Islamic State of Khorasan (IS-K), a title that distinguishes the militant group in the region from its main branch in Iraq and Syria.

News Report: Pakistan Plans to Regulate Weekly Sermons to Prevent Extremism

Madeeha Anwar

As pressure is mounting on Pakistan to do more to curb militancy emanating from parts of its territory, the country is planning to regulate Friday's sermons at local mosques where mullahs will preach on pre-approved religious topics.

The new effort is being touted as a means to tackle the growing problem of extremism that threatens the security of Pakistan and its neighbors. Some preachers, using Friday's sermons, try to persuade people to embrace jihad in other countries.

The initiative is in the form of a 13-point proposal under the National Action Plan, a policy adopted in 2015 to combat terrorism, sectarianism and intolerance in the country.

Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan's interior minister, announced the plan to regulate sermons last week after leading a meeting on the growing challenge of youth radicalization in the country. The meeting reportedly was attended by the vice chancellors of major national universities.

News Report: Rohingya Crisis May Reduce China's Geopolitical Weight and Unleash Islamism

Beijing is interested in restoring stability in Myanmar, which is currently being engulfed by the Rohingya crisis, experts told Sputnik. China's concerns about the potential upsurge in Islamic extremism in the country have geopolitical grounds as Myanmar serves as an alternative energy route for Beijing.

China is seriously concerned about the possibility of Daesh's penetration into Myanmar and the Chinese province of Yunnan amid the ongoing Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State, a Chinese expert in international affairs told Sputnik China speaking on condition of anonymity.

According to the expert, radical Rohingya and Uighur Muslims may jump at the opportunity to establish contacts with Islamist forces in Southeast Asia. Over recent years, China has been constantly dealing serious blows to extremist Islamist groups inside the country, the source added.

"The crisis in Rakhine continues to escalate," the expert said. "It can lead to the merging of local extremists with terrorist forces in the Middle East. All these pose a huge challenge to Southeast Asia and China, therefore we must take preventive measures."

News Report: Al Qaeda Operative on a Mission to Radicalize Rohingyas Held in New Delhi

According to Delhi police, All Qaeda operative Shumon Haq, a British national of Bangladeshi origin, was on a mission to radicalize Rohingya Muslim immigrants in India to fight in Myanmar.

New Delhi (Sputnik) – Indian security agencies have arrested a British National of Bangladeshi origin having links with terror outfit Al Qaeda.

“He was on a mission to radicalize Muslims of north-eastern states especially Rohingya Muslims to prepare for jihad against the Buddhists in Myanmar. He is British national of Bangladeshi origin. He had also gone to Syria and fought for Al Nusra front. He was arrested in Bangladesh for his terror links and jailed for three years. He fled to India when he was granted bail. His motive was to radicalize Rohingya Muslims. He was in contact with Rohingyas settled in different parts of India,” P S Kushwaha, Deputy Commissioner of Delhi Police told Sputnik.

According to an estimate, almost 40,000 Rohingya Muslims are living in various parts of India.

The Indian government has already made it clear that Rohingyas living illegally in the country are a threat to its security and that they would be deported soon.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: Indonesia proposes establishment of joint cyber-patrol to battle extremism in Southeast Asia

JAKARTA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian national police has suggested nations in Southeast Asia set up a joint force which will carry out a cyber-patrol in an effort to prevent spread of radicalism and extremism in the region.

Deputy Chief of Indonesian National Police Commissioner General Syafruddin disclosed on Tuesday that he had delivered the proposal at the 11st ASEAN ministerial meeting on transnational crime in the Philippines, scheduled from Monday to Thursday.

The deputy chief said that the joint force will immediately detect terrorist's activity in the cyber world.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Pakistan's Provincial Authorities Seek to Identify Educated Radicals

Madeeha Anwar

Pakistan's Sindh provincial counterterrorism authorities have initiated a new program aimed at identifying students who might be inclined toward radicalization and militancy.

Speaking to VOA's Extremism Watch team, Sanaullah Abbasi, chief of Sindh's counterterrorism department, expressed concerns about an emerging trend where educated youth resort to militancy and extremism, and he vowed to tackle it.

"Youth gravitating toward radicalization is Pakistan's continued challenge, and we're determined to overcome it," Abbasi said.

"We have had meetings with several universities in Sindh to devise a program on how to identify students on the basis of their changing thinking and behavior patterns eventually leading them toward militancy," Abbasi added.

The new initiative to head off suspected youth, including university students, was revealed a week after a few tech-savvy students-turned-terrorists were arrested in connection with an assassination attempt on a prominent local political leader in Karachi.

News Story: SCO members strengthen anti-terrorist cooperation

BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) agreed to strengthen cooperation to fight terrorism, secessionism and extremism at a meeting on Sunday.

The meeting was attended by its member states -- India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan -- as well as delegates from the executive committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS).

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: EU Foreign Policy Head Expects Myanmar to Act on Rakhine Crisis Within 1 Week

EU foreign policy head Mogherini says that she expects the government of Myanmar to deal with the roots and consequences of the ethnic crisis in the state of Rakhine this week.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that she was expecting the government of Myanmar to make the necessary steps to address both reasons and consequences of the devastating inter-ethnic conflict in the state of Rakhine within a week.

The state of Rakhine in western Myanmar has seen a build-up of violence since the beginning of August, although the conflict itself is decades old. The government forces of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar have been clashing with Muslim Rohingya insurgents, with many civilians caught in the crossfire.

News Report: Dalai Lama Urges Aung San Suu Kyi to Resolve Rohingya Crisis

Tenzin Gyatso 14th Dalai Lama (Image: Wiki Commons)

Yeshi Dorje

The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, has again called on his fellow Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi to peacefully end the Rohingya crisis.

"May I take the liberty of writing to you once again to tell you how dismayed I am by the distressing circumstances in which the situation seems to have deteriorated further," he wrote to Myanmar's de facto leader.

VOA's Tibetan Service received a copy of the letter, in which he refers to discussions the two had a few years ago, when he urged her to use her "influence to bring about a peaceful" resolution to the problems of the Muslim community. In June 2016, he urged her to "make efforts to reduce" the tension.

"It is disappointing to observe that the problem appears to be getting worse and the violence is increasing," he wrote. The letter apparently was sent two weeks ago.

The Dalai Lama also warned Aung San Suu Kyi and other Myanmar leaders that not resolving the crisis peacefully could lead to "further unrest and destruction."

News Report: Success of Pakistan's New Counterterrorism Policy Hinges on Implementation

Noor Zahid, Muhammad Ishtiaq

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD — Counterterrorism authorities in Pakistan are planning to introduce a new policy to curb extremism in the country. But analysts say only a thorough and effective implementation of the strategy would help the country rid itself of the carnage.

Pakistan's National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), which monitors and proposes counter-extremism strategies, has devised a new policy, called National Counter Extremism Policy (NCEP), to curb extremism and militancy by introducing social and education reforms and facilitating good governance.

“NCEP is a set of programs in the six fields with an objective to build strong bond between state and citizenry, empowerment and inclusion of youth and marginalized elements, reforming educational streams including religious education and instilling an environment of openness and co-existence,” NACTA chief officer, Ihsan Ghani said in a statement.

Religious schools to blame?

Once approved by the federal government, the policy would be shared with the provinces for implementation, a NACTA official told VOA.

The NACTA chief said the new policy would also propose reforms in the education sector, including the widespread Madrassa system and “instilling an environment of openness and co-existence.”

Thousands of unregistered Madrassas, or religious schools, across the country have led to an increase in militancy in the country, experts say.

News Story: (Afghan) MPs Furious Over Leaflets Dropped By US Army

By Massoud Ansar

Members of the Wolesi Jirga (the Lower House of Parliament) on Monday voiced their objection to the drop of leaflets in Parwan, Kapisa and in Kohdaman district of Kabul province by the US army last Tuesday.

MPs issued a statement and said the United States army insulted Islam values by dropping such leaflets and warned the US army that such incidents legitimize the Taliban war against the Afghan government.

On Tuesday, the US army dropped leaflets from helicopters that contained an image of a white dog with a passage from the Quran used in Taliban banners superimposed on its side, fleeing from a lion.

Following the drop of leaflets, a senior US commander apologized to the nation and said the images were deemed highly offensive.

The MPs said such moves will legitimize the Taliban war and warned if such incidents happen again, they will fight the foreign troops.

“The drop of leaflets by the US army containing offensive images has insulted Islam and Muslims values and it will provoke and damage Afghans feelings,” MP Saleh Mohammad Saljoqi said.

A number of MPs said such moves will benefit the insurgents and will distance the nation from the US troops.

Read the full story at TOLOnews

News Report: 4 Shi'ites Killed in Pakistan

Pakistani police say gunmen in Baluchistan province have killed four members of the Hazara community, a Shi'ite minority group.

"The preliminary investigation shows that it was sectarian-based targeted killings...," Amjad Ali Khan, a police commissioner from Quetta, told the French news agency.

The victims were traveling in a vehicle on the road between Quetta and the Afghan border.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. However, the Hazara community has long been a target of Sunni militants.Their distinct facial features of the Hazaras make them easily recognizable among the local population and therefore an easier target for those looking to kill Shi'ites.

Hazaras reside in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

News Story: 5 arrested for violence in central Myanmar

YANGON, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- At least five people have been arrested by the authorities for involvement in Sunday night's violence in Taungdwingyi, Myanmar's central Magway region.

A statement from the government's Information Committee said on Monday that the five confessed that they committed the crime for dissatisfaction with the extremist terrorists' attacks in the northern Rakhine state.

It said an investigation was underway to expose the remaining perpetrators.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Gravitation of highly educated Pakistanis to terrorism rings alarm bells

by Jamil Bhatti

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- The recent emergence of a number of highly educated Pakistanis who were involved in extremist and terrorist activities has rung alarm bells in the power corridors of Pakistan.

Last week, law enforcement agencies busted an independent terrorist group Ansar-ul-Sharia Pakistan (the supporters of Islamic law in Pakistan), which comprises 10 to 12 highly educated people in the country's southern port city of Karachi.

According to police, all the members of the group are qualified from well-known universities, including Karachi University and NED University of Engineering and Technology, while the chief of the group namely Abdullah was working as an information technology expert in a university.

Rao Anwar, Senior Superintendent Police, said that all the group members were the students of science subjects and belong to noble and educated families and that the group was involved in the killing of police and security personnel.

The members got training from Afghanistan and were showing their presence in Karachi by terrorist attacks with a final aim to tie with Al-Qaeda, said Anwar, adding "emergence of such a group is a serious concern for the country which is struggling for peace."

Following the development, intelligence agencies have increased surveillance in all major universities of the country, while security audit of some of the educational institutes has already started.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Rohingya Crisis Viewed as Possible Tool for Extremists

Noor Zahid

As tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state have escaped across the border to neighboring Bangladesh, analysts warn that the situation could become a lightning rod and a recruiting tool for foreign militants if it remains unaddressed.

"There are a few militant groups active in the region, and they are based in Bangladesh. So far, no concrete evidence has been produced that al-Qaida or Islamic State has a presence in Myanmar, although we saw a sympathy statement on Rohingya by the latter," Hassan Askari, a Pakistan-based South Asia security analyst, told VOA.

"But if this chaotic situation continues or gets worse, one cannot reject the possibility of militant groups and terror movements getting active and paving their way into Myanmar," Askari said.

The Rohingya fled following the destruction of their homes and villages, allegedly by extremist Buddhists and the country's security forces. An estimated 270,000 Rohingya have sought refuge in neighboring Bangladesh in the last two weeks, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said Friday.

News Report: Pakistan Says US Can’t Win War on Terror Without It

Ayaz Gul

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has vowed to stay engaged with the United States to help fight terrorism in neighboring Afghanistan, but said the war “cannot be won by excluding or confronting” Islamabad.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif made the remark Thursday at the end of a three-day conference of Pakistani ambassadors to key world capitals for formulating a comprehensive response to the new U.S. policy on Afghanistan.

U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Pakistan when he announced his long-awaited Afghan war policy last month. He accused Islamabad of harboring terrorists linked to the Taliban and Haqqani network, which are undermining U.S.-led efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and staging attacks on American forces.

The charges have strained an already fragile relationship between Islamabad and Washington.

“We want to stay engaged with the United States. There is absolutely no doubt about it ... But this relationship will be driven by the interest of Pakistan. We want to have a relationship based on mutual respect,” Foreign Minister Asif told reporters after the meeting.

News Report: Myanmar's Suu Kyi Slams 'Fake News' About Rohingya Crisis

Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar’s de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi responded to growing international criticism of her government by slamming "fake news” reports about the plight of the country’s Rohingya Muslims.

Aung San Suu Kyi said on Wednesday that global outrage over the government’s treatment of the local Rohingya Muslims was being fueled by "a huge iceberg of misinformation.”

Her statement followed the United Nations’ call for an end to the government crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, which has already forced about 146,000 people to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.

The conflict between Myanmar’s Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, widely dismissed in Myanmar as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, erupted in Rakhine state in late August prompting a wave of protests across the world over what has been dubbed the disproportionate use of force by the government.

News Story: Police Close Madrassa In Ghor Province

Local officials said Monday night police closed down a Madrassa in Ghor province after receiving information that attacks were being planned from inside the facility. 

The Madrassa is located in the Saghar district. 

Ghor police spokesman Mohammad Iqbal Nizami told TOLOnews that on the first day of Eid al-Adha, two Mullahs from the Madrassa planted a roadside mine that was hit by a police vehicle.

Read the full story at TOLOnews